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The Easy Clan
Summary:
This is a town built on what used to be a mountain. Inside the town are parks where there's still wild insects and of course, yukkuri dwelling in their holes.
There's two kind of yukkuri living in parks. They're the wild yukkuri who has been living in this ground since before human build their city, and yukkuri that are abandoned by their owners.
For a while, yukkuri became problem to the town. Government strengthen the trash can and dumping site, so naturally yukkuri gathered in park, the only place they can still get their food.
Extermination is done, but some yukkuri survived and again grow in numbers. This process is repeated until only yukkuri who really know how to face human survived.
These small clans built by survivors behaved better, so the town starts to accept them. One of the clans is very cooperative with human, so they're called the "easy clan" by humans.
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One of the yukkuri Reimu in this clan is giving birth. In her long stalk, there's only two yukkuri fruit hanging. They're a Reimu and Marisa.
The clan has not only Refreshing limitation but also Birth limitation. This custom came naturally and has been going for long time in the clan and everybody followed it. Those who goes against the rule will have their whole family executed and next family is finally allowed to do Refreshing.
Refreshing is one of the few easyness a stray could have. Reimu has got the permission to do refreshing and gave birth. Now, her two children is about to be born.
After the babies are born, Marisa report to the chief, who then ordered the children to be brought to the public nursery. Many yukkuri hate the rules, but they can't do anything but obey.
Reimu's babies are a little big for babies because of the birth limitation. They hasn't even do rub rub with their parents.
If Marisa and Reimu break the rule, they will be killed. Other yukkuri run the rule with the negative emotion coming from dissatisfaction because they also have to follow the rule. They hate those who can take it easy while they can't.
The public nursery is also disliked, but the yukkuri can't do anything but obey. Those against the rule will be executed and next family who's already waiting will get their chance to have children.
The land they're living in is steep, so it's difficult to walk outside the already built paths. Along the street is other yukkuri's nest, keeping close watch.
Marisa and Reimu parted with their babies. The clan's rule is that children are not raised by their parents. Other adults take turns to raise the children. Meanwhile, until they're allowed, the real parents are not allowed to get close to the nursery or else the whole family will be executed.
After giving birth, Marisa and Reimu are sent home. Today they will get food as support for giving birth. But from tomorrow, they will need to hunt.
About the nursery, it's built in the highest ground in the clan's area. The place is similar to just any yukkuri nest, other than the fact that the floor inside is lower than outside. For baby yukkuri, this is their prison.
Baby yukkuri and Koyukkuri are fragile things.
If they're raised while being spoiled by their parents, they will become seed of troubles in later day. This is why the clan decided to separate children from their parents and other adults take turn to train them into clan member.This nursery hole is also internally linked to the chief's home, because the children has to be watched all the time.
Chief of this clan is decided by all the clan members. They may not marry or have children. Because of this, the leader take good care in raising the children.
In the day, the leader must watch what the adults are teaching to these children. In the night, she must protect them even if she must sacrifice herself. If she run away abandoning the children, she will be sentenced to death by the clan.First day is the chief Patchouli. She let the children cry until they're tired and fell asleep.
The next day, an Alice came throwing ball of grass into the nest and starts degrading the babies, calling them stupid and dirty strays.
Although insulting the children as stray, Alice is teaching them. She teaches them about strays, about eating and about using toilet.Like Patchouli, Alice is also raised here. It's not an easy place and her insulting words towards strays also felt like it's directed to herself.
But yukkuri has a nature of feeling easy by looking down on others, so without realizing it, they're releasing some of their stress here.That day, like other yukkuri on child raising duty, Alice got a bit bigger share of the day's hunt. Even so, naturally yukkuri think of the children as cute, so having to say things contradicting their own feeling is a difficult job.
That night, Alice cried and ask for forgiveness from the children for saying cruel things to them.One day, a Marisa teach the children about human. She told them, strays are not easy, they're weak. Only humans are easy and can protect them. No matter how much they struggle, they will never become strong.
Naturally, yukkuri want to think of themselves as strong. Marisa know the reality, but she still cries as she teach the children about that painful fact.
This way, the children will know to respect human, humble themselves and follow the rules of the clan. If they can't do that, they wont live for long.Parents can meet their children when they can finally climb out of the nursery.
Even then, parents never introduced themselves. It's not forbidden, but they're afraid that the children will think of them as parents who abandoned their children.
Only after the children grow up and understand the system, they finally meet back with their parents. That is, if the parents are still alive by then.This way, they became a clan praised as the "easy clan". But humans never know that this easy clan is built with paste and tears.
Every day, they help park visitors. They also help cleaning up pests and wild grasses in the park.
Even though they're exceptional, no human want to keep them as pets. It's not because they're strays or because of bad behaviour. Yukkuri from this clan watch their actions too much, they're boring.
Abyusers also don't touch the yukkuri from this clan because they're too humble and not interesting at all.Nobody know how this system starts. Probably the survivors of many extermination finally learned of how to act towards human and after long period, created the rules. This clan is especially strict, but there are growing numbers of similar clans across the country.
At night, yukkuri who slightly remembered the idea of "easyness" cries. They're living by denying their own self. It's a hard thing for human too, but yukkuri are simple creature so the feeling is much more painful.
This way, strays managed to live longer. But whether they're happy or not is another story altogether.
Nobody here but us chickens!